300 
TIME KURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for-Country null Suburban lloiueii 
Established isco 
PiiblUbt-d ort-klr by toe Rural I'nhlishlne C’ompiinT. 3311 Net 30lli Street, N tn l'orn 
Herbert W. Coixingwood, President fend Editor. 
John* * .1. Dii.lon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. K. Dii.ixjN, Secretary. Mrs. K. T. Koyle. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, £ 2 . 01 . equal to 8 s. 6 d., or 
8)4 marks, or 10 k franca Remit in money order, express 
order, personal cheek or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates. 7o cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
\Ve believe that every advertisement In this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and udmit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such eases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned bv the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The 10 it al New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
O N page 307 will he found the first of a series of 
diagrams showing how to plan a small garden. 
These gardens are to provide vegetables and 
small fruits for a family of four. They show what 
can be done in a back yard. These plans were made 
by students at the Connecticut Agricultural College 
as part of their work in horticulture. The possi¬ 
bilities of a back yard will appeal to anyone who 
works in the soil. 
* 
I T is true that farmers everywhere are more in¬ 
terested than ever in the selling problem. That 
is right, because the selling is the most import¬ 
ant thing in modern business. Sixty-five cents of 
the dollar goes for handling and selling. We must 
therefore study the problem. It will be a mistake, 
however, to neglect the study of production. Let 
us not be one-sided in selling because we have been 
so in producing. It will be a mistake to increase 
the total crops of the country, but we should plan 
to produce what we do now with less labor and on 
less land. 
* 
H ERE is a question which the scientific men 
should settle—to what extent will ground 
limestone increase the scab on potatoes? We 
know that burnt lime will increase scab if the germs 
of the disease are on the seed or in the soil. Yet 
it is often desirable to use lime freely in a rotation 
which includes potatoes. How can we use it and 
what kind of lime is best? Some farmers claim 
that ground limestone will not increase scab even 
if used directly on the potato crop, but we would not 
dare recommend it. Let the experiment stations 
settle the matter for us by planting with various 
forms of lime. 
* 
W HENEVER we want a text we can find it in a 
letter from some subscriber. Here is one on 
the potato situation from Southern New York: 
I am sorry to keep you waiting for my remittance. 
I had to sell* four bushels of potatoes to get the dollar. 
When milk is only $1.60 per 100 pounds, and feed 
climbing up to two dollars it makes dollars scarce ar¬ 
ticles here. it- c. 
When it takes 240 pounds of good potatoes to bring 
a dollar you would have a right to expect that the 
poor in our cities have enough to eat at least. Y’et 
here is another letter from Boston: 
I have followed your efforts to make better results for 
(he potato farmer who is trying to sell his potatoes at 
cost or less in your State. Your paper today quoted 
potatoes at $1.50 to $1.75 a barrel, 180 pounds; “Boston 
Herald” quoted 90c-$1.00 per bag, 120 pounds. I 
would like to give you an instance why it is so hard 
(o make people eat more potatoes, those who buy them. 
On reading above prices, I called up the grocer in town, 
who said his prices were lower than other retailers and 
said, “How much are potatoes a bag? If the price is 
right I would feed some to our birds for a change.'’ 
The reply was $1.60 per bag, 120 pounds, 25 cents a 
peck. Problem in algebra: If this man’s price was low¬ 
est what was the highest?. C. E. D. 
First thing you know we shall hav£ some of you 
people believing what we say about this 35-cent dol¬ 
lar. And then what of this from a very intelligent 
and prominent man? 
“Your advice to the farmers to raise less is un¬ 
economic, unchristian and inhuman. Fortunately 
they to ill not listen to it!” 
As a matter of fact we have not advised farmers 
to raise less. We do advise them not to increase 
production until a market is assured them. Until 
t lien we would have them produce what they do 
now on smaller areas and with less labor. There is 
now enough food wasted on our farms, through lack 
of a market, to feed every hungry human in the 
land. We feel that the manufacturers and railroad 
men might well start off with a practical illustra¬ 
tion of the “two blades of grass” theory by doubling 
their output and railroad mileage as farmers are 
advised to do! Why not try the experiment them¬ 
selves before they advise farmers? 
DESTINY IN 95 WORDS. 
L AST week we ref erred to a bill introduced by 
Mr. Kinfaid of Syracuse in the Assembly at 
Albany. The bill is short, and we print it here. 
It is known as Assembly bill No. 664. 
1. Section 1. Chapter two hundred and forty-dve of 
the laws of nineteen hundred and fourteen, entitled “An 
act to amend the general business law, in relation to the 
establishment of a Department of Foods and Markets, 
and making an appropriation therefor,” is hereby re¬ 
pealed and such department is hereby abolished. 
2. All books, papers, records, documents, property 
and office equipment of the Department of Foods and 
Markets shall be delivered on demand to the Director of 
the State Library who shall retain the same in his cus¬ 
tody until otherwise provided by law. 
3. This act shall take effect immediately. 
Now here are 95 words which carry the most dan¬ 
gerous possibilities for New York farmers that 
Albany has seen in the last Half century. We speak 
calmly and deliberately when we say that if the 
farmers of New York State permit these 95 words 
to become a State law they will within the next 20 
years pay out of the scanty proceeds from their 
own crops more than one million dollars for each 
word in this short bill. For 30 years and more we 
have watched the slow development of the farmer’s 
understanding of the true meaning of the 35-cent 
dollar. Year by year the various interests which 
carry and handle farm-grown food have been able 
to organize and develop their methods until the 
farmer finally woke up to find that every other in¬ 
terest except bis own was organized, monopolized 
and protected by special privileges under the guise 
of law! lie was feeding and providing business for 
every other interest in the country, accepting a 35- 
cent dollar for his share of what he sold and paying 
a 150-eent dollar for what he bought. The first 
thought was to turn to cooperative work and or¬ 
ganization to relieve his troubles. Even with this 
the farmer quickly found that the selling end of his 
business, particularly in this great city, is out of his 
reach. No gang of robber barons of the middle ages 
ever ruled their farmers with more despotic power 
than the organized army of food middlemen on this 
great island dictate prices and systematically tax 
or rob the farmers who ship food here. It became 
clearly evident that for the protection of consum¬ 
ers and producers alike the State must step in with 
an organization for obtaining a fairer distribution 
of food values. This is just as much the duty of the 
State as is that of protecting the lives or property 
of its citizens. As a result of years of study and 
work the Food and Market Commission came as 
the development of a slow but steady growth of 
agricultural thought. It teas the first public evi¬ 
dence on the part of Few York State that its govern¬ 
ment knew there is such a thing as the 35-cent 
dollar. Now in 95 words the Legislature and Gov¬ 
ernor are asked to kill the solid work of 30 years 
before the Department can have time to justify 
itself. 
And who is back of this bill? 
The commission men and other middlemen of 
New York State. They see that the new Depart¬ 
ment is going to do something. While food is wast¬ 
ing on the farms because its selling price is below 
cost, human beings are starving in this city. This 
is because the selfish, artificial system of distribu¬ 
tion so long maintained by the middlemen has brok¬ 
en down. The new Department recognizes this, and 
will strike straight at the remedy. This means a 
curtailment of gray-haired graft and “easy money.” 
In order to save themselves the middlemen strike 
straight at the bill. We welcome the battle as a 
soldier glories in the conflict. Here is a clear-cut, 
definite issue, and we shall bring out every detail of 
it. We ask you now to act at once. Write before 
you sleep to your Assemblyman at Albany and ask 
him to help kill this dangerous bill. We have never 
deceived you yet and we tell you now solemnly that 
the farmers of the State must rally in support of 
their rights if they ever expect to gain and hold the 
respect of the public. All the world loves a fighter. 
Here is your chance to fight, for an issue that means 
both riches and righteousness to you. 
* 
W E will go right on record as advising our read¬ 
ers not to plunge on Spring wheat and 
beans this year. There are some who plan 
to do so. They expect to put in a large 
acreage to wheat and beans, plowing up good mea¬ 
dows and cutting out the crops of their regular ro¬ 
tation. We want to tell them now that it will prove 
a gamble, with the chances against them. Spring 
wheat is not a natural crop for their climate and 
soil. Remember that Argentina, Australia, New 
Zealand, China and all other wheat-producing coun¬ 
tries have increased their acreage and will, with 
a fair season, produce the greatest crop the world 
has ever seen. The present high prices are not 
legitimate, but are based upon speculative deals. 
February 27. 
The situation with beans is much the same. Thou- „ 
sands will take the chance and rush into bean 
growing until the situation will reach about what 
we have in the potato market today. As standard 
farm crops used properly iu a rotation both wheat 
and beans will be profitable one year with another, 
but as speculative crops they will not pay. Many 
good judges believe that the European war cannot 
continue beyond this ...year. The present “dead¬ 
lock” will be broken when warm weather comes on. 
and millions of new men are poured in by both sides. 
Our advice is to stick to legitimate farm practice 
and standard crops. 
* 
W E are glad to see that the L>epartment of Agri¬ 
culture is taking up the potato situation. It 
is experimenting with potato flour in bread¬ 
making and also with the use of potatoes in mak¬ 
ing alcohol. It seems that one-eighth of the avail¬ 
able land in the German Empire is devoted to po¬ 
tatoes. 
The manufacture of alcohol for technical purposes, 
not for human consumption, is not regarded in itself as 
a profitable business blit as a necessary factor in gen¬ 
eral farming. The distilleries provide a market for 
Germany’s enormous potato crop, which in turn has 
made possible the profitable cultivation of large tracts 
of light sandy soil in the east. The spent mash again 
is returned to the farmers from the distilleries and used 
as feed for cattle which furnish manure for the enrich¬ 
ment of the soil. 
Thus the German distilleries represent efforts to 
save wastes. The great mistake in American farm¬ 
ing is that we have let the wastes go and when the 
time comes to save them we do not recognize them 
for what they are. 
* 
A BUSINESS firm operating in Waterbury, 
Conn., occupies good advertising space in the 
local papers. They know that people will read 
advertisements day by day if they are made worth 
while. Among other announcements the people of 
Waterbury read the following: 
To the Memory of Two Horses 
JOE and JIM 
Came to Work March, 1898 
Chloroformed January, 1915 
They did faithful duty. 
The Hjalph AJ. Blakeslee Company 
HfllBI WMHUMW gsBSCTaawM* 
This was a fine thing to do. Hundreds of people 
knew Joe and Jim, and felt genuine sorrow when 
these two good friends passed away. It was a fine 
tiling to recognize faithful duty even in a horse, and 
every right-minded person in the town felt grate¬ 
ful that the old horses were saved from the purga¬ 
tory of life in a peddler’s cart or some other form 
of slavery. Some of the great merchants and busi¬ 
ness men in New York spend fortunes each year 
advertising in cars and public places. We under¬ 
stand they quite frequently give this space freely 
at times to worthy charities and deserving in¬ 
stitutions. 
BREVITIES. 
A man is known by the company he does not keep. 
What is the the poorest form of home preserving? 
The “family jar.” 
If you buy the cows which some other dairyman 
casts off, where do you get off? 
“No” is usually a more helpful word than “Yes.” 
Harder to say and more of an incentive to self-reliance. 
Wiiat is concrete work without reinforcement? 
Just about like cooperation without spirit and brotherly 
feeling. 
The best of all the citizens who live inside our 
town is he who takes his medicine and smiles as it 
goes clown. 
Deposits of phosphate rock have been found in Mon¬ 
tana—estimated at So,000,000 tons. Not yet devel¬ 
oped—no demand. 
With u lot of rye on hand for feeding we should 
grind it half and half with corn or oats. Stock do not 
like clear rye ground. It is sticky and the taste is 
not agreeable. The mixture is better. 
While the present potato situation is deplorable, we 
must remember that the present stock cannot be car¬ 
ried over as would be the case? with grain or beans. 
The next potato crop will be a new deal all around. 
The Agricultural Department states that a bird 
should be judged valuable by what it eats. Right, and 
much the same just now with a human. The man (or 
woman), who will eat an extra peck of potatoes is 
surely “a bird.” 
Low prices and limited demand for cut flowers an* 
quite generally reported this Winter, small growers 
with a local demand being better off than the large 
establishments growing for the wholesale trade. Carna¬ 
tion growers seem especially hit by the depression 
Many merchants in the fruit districts have helped 
dispose of the apple crop by using fruit as premiums. 
A Utica clothing house used 70 barrels of apples in 
this way—giving a barrel to every man who bought 
an overcoat. The local merchants may well bestir 
themselves to hold trade. 
